Volume 6 Chapter 7 The Origin of the Ghost Witch

  Municipal Public Security Bureau, conference room.

  At the entrance, four armed police officers were guarding tightly, without Zhang Changming's order, even a fly couldn't fly in.

  Inside were seven people: Ouyang Xuan, Secretary Zheng, Ren Changming and four middle-aged archaeological experts.

  Secretary Zheng stood up and solemnly introduced Ouyang Xuan: "This is Comrade Ouyang Xuan from BJ, whose specific identity is not convenient to reveal to everyone. However, this archaeological excavation is extremely crucial, so everyone must report seriously!"

  Four archaeology experts looked at each other, although they couldn't figure out what the young Ouyang Xuan was about, but since Zheng Secretary and Ren Changming were so polite to him, they didn't dare to neglect him. One of them stood up and said: "I am Li Rui, the curator of the city museum, let me introduce the specific situation of the excavation!"

  Ouyang Xuan nodded and smiled: "Thank you!"

  Li Rui walked to the wall, picked up a remote control and pressed it. The projector set on the ceiling immediately started working, projecting the specific results of the excavation work onto the large screen on the back wall.

  "After three consecutive days of high-intensity, large-scale excavation work, the cleaning of the ancient tomb was basically completed, and hundreds of bronze wares, lacquer wares, jade articles, gold ornaments and other items were unearthed, which is a rare rich tomb in recent years." As soon as he talks about archaeological excavations, Li Rui, wearing glasses and being elegant, becomes spirited and eloquent.

  "Wait a minute," Ouyang Xuan said, stopping him: "I just want to know the surname and name of the owner of this ancient tomb, what era he lived in, what kind of past he had, whether there are any special objects among the excavated artifacts, nothing else matters!"

  "Yes!" Li Rui smiled somewhat awkwardly and continued, "After many colleagues searched for materials overnight, it was discovered that the owner of the ancient tomb was named Meng Cai, a famous great witch doctor in the Xiangxi region during the reign of King Zhuang of Chu."

  The Chu region has a long tradition of respecting witchcraft. As we know, it is generally divided into three types: evil-warding witchcraft, fortune-seeking witchcraft, and divination witchcraft. Meng Cai seems to be very proficient in all of them, and legend has it that he also possesses great magical powers, almost omnipotent. Even when King Zhuang of Chu was ill, he had Meng Cai perform witchcraft to ward off evil spirits. In his lifetime, he was a prominent figure in the state of Chu.

  This can also be seen from the large number of precious utensils buried with him. We carefully counted, and there are two things that are most precious. One is Ke Huang Sheng Ding, which is a ritual vessel for sacrifice, placed next to the main coffin, with Meng Cai's handwritten inscription. The exquisite craftsmanship and unique shape are unprecedented in the country, extremely valuable, and very helpful for our research on ancient Chu witchcraft.

  Another piece called 'Moth-eaten Golden Dragon' jade, engraved with Meng Chai's name, also has the emblem of the Chu State royal family on it. It is estimated that this was bestowed by King Zhuang of Chu to Meng Chai, symbolizing his noble status and powerful magical honor, which can be considered a rare treasure of its time.

  "Compared with these two things, everything else is somewhat inferior."

  Upon hearing this, Ouyang Xuan felt somewhat disappointed, for there weren't many valuable clues, even if they dug up a hundred tons of gold, what's the use!? It still couldn't help him subdue Mo Yan.

  "Is there any other special place? It's a bit strange, maybe you don't look too precious!" Ouyang Xuan asked with his last hope.

  Li Rui hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well, now that you mention it, there are indeed some strange things. Firstly, there are large amounts of remnants of mugwort grass in this ancient tomb. At first, we were puzzled, but after consulting historical records, we discovered that this mugwort grass was used to filter wine, known as 'mugwort wine', which was an important ritual for the ancient Chu people to worship heaven and earth. Additionally, we found a large number of murals on the walls of the tomb chamber, but they are very strange, all telling stories about Meng Chui and snakes."

  Ouyang Xuan's eyes lit up: "Wait a minute, elaborate on this! Are there detailed murals? Bring them out and let me take a look!"

  Li Rui nodded: "Yes!" Pressed the camera button and jumped to a strange picture, said in a low voice: "This picture we call it 'Wu Shuai Ascension Picture', which is the most representative in ancient tomb murals. It tells the story of Meng Cai wearing a black robe, wearing a snake crown, with the help of three green snakes ascending to heaven. Look, next to two women are dancing for her, and nearby villagers are bidding farewell to him. This shows that in ancient times near Xiangxi, people may have had a strong reverence for snakes, while Meng Cai may have had a very powerful control over snakes."

  Ouyang Xuan thought of the giant python that 'Yu Xiao' had subdued and nodded: "Is there anything else?"

  "It's all gone!" Li Rui thought for a moment and said: "Perhaps if we investigate further, we can still get some information!"

  "Uh-huh, you go ahead then. If there's any discovery, notify Secretary Zheng and Director Ren immediately!" Ouyang Xuan nodded and gestured to Secretary Zheng.

  Secretary Zheng stood up and smiled: "Old Li, then we'll trouble you today, thank you so much!"

  "Secretary Zheng, don't be polite, this is what we should do! If there's nothing else, we'll head back." Li Rui was somewhat surprised by the special treatment.

  "Great, great, you've done an excellent job! Once things are over, I'll make sure the municipal party committee gives you a good commendation!" Secretary Zheng said with great enthusiasm.

  "Thank you, Secretary Zheng. We'll take our leave!" Li Rui and the others stood up, nodded to Yang Hua, Ouyang Xuan and Ren Changming, and left.

  The room fell silent, and Ren Changming looked at Ouyang Xuan with eager eyes: "Comrade Ouyang, what do you think?"

  Ouyang Xuan smiled and said, "Although we didn't gain much useful things from the ancient tomb, at least we are familiar with Meng Cai's origin, and know that he has a deep connection with snakes. This is not a small harvest."

  Just then, Ren Changming's phone suddenly rang. Ren Changming hastily apologized to Ouyang Xuan and answered it.

  As soon as he received it, Ren Changming's face changed suddenly. He put down his phone and looked at Ouyang Xuan with a pale face, muttering: "In Qinglong Town, a family of four was killed, their necks were bitten open, and all the blood in their bodies was sucked out!"

  Ouyang Xuan suddenly stood up, his face stern: "You've finally appeared, this time you won't be able to escape!"

  Secretary Zheng secretly sighed, two cases of massacre had occurred locally, he as the secretary could not escape responsibility. He smiled bitterly and said: "Comrade Ouyang, everything is up to you now. If this ghost continues to stir up trouble, our municipal party committee will have to collectively resign!"

  "Prepare the carriage immediately, I want to rush to Qinglong Town!" Ouyang Xuan said hastily, and suddenly thought of something and said: "Right, arrange for the residents near Qinglong Town to evacuate immediately, I'm afraid that if a big battle breaks out, it will harm innocent people!"

  "Alright, I'll arrange it immediately!" Ren Changming was also getting anxious. If he couldn't resolve the issue, and his superiors came to investigate, he would be the first one to get into trouble.

  "However, Director Ren, can you help me with something before I leave?" Ouyang Xuan thought for a moment, and suddenly had an idea.

  "Go ahead, no problem!" No matter what the requirements are, as long as Ouyang Xuan can solve Meng Cai, Ren Changming will call him Grandpa.

  "Go and buy me a flute, it must be a genuine brand, don't get a fake one, I need it!" Ouyang Xuan said seriously.

  Secretary Zheng and Ren Changming were stunned, looking at each other with a somewhat strange expression.

  "Go on, go on!" Ren Changming also didn't dare ask why, and only nodded repeatedly.

  ＊＊＊

  Qinglong Town, on the western mountain highway.

  More than a dozen police cars came rushing over like the wind, Ouyang Xuan was stunned in the car and carefully looked at the Xiao in his hand: The body of the Xiao is made of top-grade Hetian white jade, smooth as jade all over, warm to the touch; The craftsmanship is extremely exquisite, the patterns are delicate and vivid, obviously from a famous craftsman.

  Ouyang Xuan tried music again, very full, round and sonorous, it can be seen that the tuning is perfect.

  "What a great Xiao!" Ou Yang Xuan couldn't help but praise, suddenly thinking of an embarrassing question: this Xiao is probably worth tens of thousands, Ren Changming bought such a good thing to give to himself, it's likely that there's an intention to curry favor! Is this considered embezzlement or bribery?

  Ouyang Xuan smiled wryly, took out the score of "Jiutian", and carefully read it. After just two passes, Ouyang Xuan had memorized the score thoroughly. He then opened the car window, braving the biting cold wind, and began to play softly.

  In an instant, a composed and elegant music emerged from the whispers, quietly echoing in the deep and quiet mountains.

  The speeding convoy seemed to feel that the sky had suddenly brightened, the air had suddenly become fresher, and even the withered and barren valleys seemed to have come alive. One's heart seemed to have grown younger, floating and fluttering out of one's chest, towards the vast free horizon.

  In the midst of beautiful music, in the dormant blessing of the inner elixir, he suddenly felt that familiar aura again, stirring restlessly in his spiritual sea. Ouyang Xuan was shocked to discover that in an instant, his power had surged rapidly, with a feeling of being on the verge of explosion.

  Ouyang Xuan suddenly stopped the Xiao sound, waiting for Zhu Rong's inner dan to calm down before playing again.

  One and again, again and thrice, soon Ou Yang Xuan became familiar with the "Nine Heavens" score, although it was a bit awkward, but already had a lot of charm. What made Ou Yang Xuan even more delighted was that he had completely confirmed that the "Nine Heavens" score had a special effect of rapidly increasing his strength in a short period of time.

  Perhaps it can be used against Meng Cai! Ouyang Xuan put down his long arrow and smiled slightly.

  The two policemen in front were listening with relish, and when Ouyang Xuan stopped blowing, they looked at each other regretfully, their faces full of disappointment.

  ＊＊＊

  Finally, Qinglong Town arrived.

  In the midst of majestic mountains, a small town with thousands of people quietly lies in the arms of the forest, a provincial highway passes through the town, connecting this ancient village to the modern world.

  The sunset sinks in the west, the evening glow is like gold, and the small town bathed in golden light has a natural beauty. However, it's eerily quiet!

  Ouyang Xuan jumped out of the car and looked around at the majestic mountains in the slightly cool wind, nodding secretly: This is indeed a good place to hide, Meng Cai really knows how to choose a location.

  "Comrade Ouyang, the townspeople have been evacuated and there were no accidents in between. What do you think?" Ren Changming followed up with a questioning expression.

  "You retreat to the outskirts of town, and leave the rest to me!" Ouyang Xuan clenched his fists, with a confident face.

  "Then be careful yourself!" Ren Changming said with concern and then led the police away.

  "Meng Cai, I'm here! Sharp eyes shot out a fierce and murderous aura in an instant."

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